Dream Stich
by Leetah45
Summary: The Eleventh Doctor goes on adventures with a character of my own creation. Fan service included. Reviews appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

Willa was running a broom over the floor in the last minutes before closing. She'd been here for a little over a week and it seemed like the walls were getting closer and closer every night. It had been years since she'd spend this much time in one place. There wasn't, as one might expect, much money to be made in real metaphysics. So Willa had traveled with a Renaissance fair for the last six years. It was an odd life of never being more than four or so days in one place, but she made enough money for food and chocolate. What more could a girl want really? As it turns out, quite a bit more.

But money was starting to get a little tight, so when an old friend in Bath needed someone to watch her shop while she was on vacation, Willa couldn't really say no. She put the broom up, and was turning to lock the door when she heard the bells jingle violently as a man entered and slammed the door behind him. He crouched beneath the glass panel on the door – barring it shut. "Do you have any lemongrass?"

"Yeees…," Willa replied slowly. "Would you like it fresh, dried, or dried and ground?"

"Oh…ah… which would you say gives off the best smoke?"

"Dried."

"Dried it is then!" he leapt up, but then remembered himself and hit the ground again. "Would you mind shutting the blinds?"

"Well, I-" Willa began, but was immediately cut off by a couple of men shouting on the street.

"No time!" the man on the floor fished a wallet from his pocket and held it up to her. "I'm undercover police, you see – and -"

"No," Willa shook her head and peered at the paper, "That's blank."

"Pardon?"

"Your license is blank, sir."

"Oh," he glanced at it. "So it is. Buggar. Must have put the wrong one in there. Well you see…"

"Doctor!" the voices outside screamed.

"You're not the police are you?" Willa started toward the front door.

"No, but I am in trouble."

"I figured as much." Willa began to drop the blinds. "Past the counter is the door to the cellar. The light switch is on your right."

"Thank you!" The strange man army crawled as quick as he could toward the cellar.

Willa calmly flipped the sign from _Open_ to _Closed _and was about to lock the door when a large brooding bald man in a nondescript black suit shoved it open, nearly knocking her over in the process.

"Where is the Doctor?" he shouted at her. His breath was awful, and the accent was a strange one that she couldn't quite place.

"Sorry, sir. No doctors here. And I'm afraid we're closed for the night; you'll have to come back tomorrow."

"I know you're hiding him here." The ugly man grabbed Willa by the throat. It wasn't enough to choke her, though the potential was definitely there. _It serves me right,_ she though, _trying to help someone out. Thanks Karma._ And then it occurred to her that something was wrong with this picture. Not that she was being choked by a strange man because of a stranger man in the cellar; what bothered her more was how the man's hand felt around her neck. It was dripping wet, though his clothes were bone dry, and it sucked at her skin. She screamed and attempted to kick at him. "Tell me where he is, vermin!" The man's eyes bled blue. A sickly blue-black filled the pupils and whites. She screamed again, hoping it would have some effect of the man downstairs.

Before her scream could die away the flustered young man burst from the cellar waving what appeared to be the entire stock of dried Lemongrass in flames. The large man reeled at the smoke and took a couple of blind swings at the flames before giving up and rushing out the door.

By the time he had let her go Willa was seeing spots; she collapsed to the floor. When the ugly man has disappeared around the corner, the lanky young man helped Willa to her feet. "Are you alright there?" he waved an odd looking flashlight in her face for a few moments. "It looks like no serious damage was sustained. But take a couple of aspirin and call me in the morning."

"What? Who the hell are you?"

He had opened the door to the shop, but he turned back to her and straightened his lapels. "I'm the Doctor," and then he was gone down the quiet English street.

Willa turned slowly in a circle surveying the damage. "Really?" She glanced out the door to the now empty street, "Really!" With a long sigh she flipped the dead bolt and turned back to get the broom again. But a moment later the lanky Doctor's face was pressed up against the glass of her door again.

"Let me in! Let me in!" Willa unlocked the door and the Doctor slammed it shut as soon as he was in. He bolted it again and threw a chair in front of it for good measure. "We need to leave. We need to leave now." He took her by the shoulders "Do you have an out? You know like a back out? An elsewhere out?"

"A back door?"

"Oh! That's prefect. Let's go," he pushed her through the shop. She let them out the back door and locked it behind them as well. When the were safely in the back alley he circled for a moment and then, "This way. Definitely this way."

"Where are we going?"

"A safe place. Don't worry." For no other reason than lack of a better idea, Willa followed him. They dashed down a few streets until it became apparent that the Doctor was heading for a small blue police box. It also became apparent that the ugly man and a dozen of his identical ugly twins were headed for them. When they reached the police box the Doctor turned to her, "Prepared to be mind boggled." He opened the door, shoved her in before him, and slammed the door shut as the strange men closed in on them.

Willa and the Doctor found themselves standing awkwardly close in the dark police box. The Doctor hissed as her, "What is this?"

"It's a police box," she whispered back, "was this your plan for escape?"

"Well it wasn't supposed to be a police box. This was supposed to be a time machine that looks like a police box."

"Oh that makes much more sense."

"Besides, why is there another police box sitting around? Isn't this 2010?"

"Of course it is. We're sitting in front of a law enforcement museum."

"Ah, what an unfortunate coincidence," he pressed a few buttons on his flashlight and stood it up on floor of the small box. "At least that will keep them from hearing us."

Luckily there was a bench along one small wall of the box and Willa collapsed wearily onto it, "What are those things? A daemon of some sort?"

"Oh," he sat next to her, though there wasn't much room and patted her head, "nothing quite as bad as all that. They're Sikalam. Kinda like slugs. Big wiggly space slugs. Like Earth slugs – but bigger – and meaner."

"But why are they after you?"

"Ah, yes. Well like I said – bigger, meaner, and they hold grudges longer. See I helped them out of a tight spot a while back and as thanks they wanted me to marry one of their Princesses. But she was a little…ah…."

"Sluggy?"

"No she had quite a pretty sheen. But such a temper. It would have been a terrible marriage. Oh no!"

Willa sat up straight, "What! What's wrong?"

"I singed my bowtie…," the Doctor whined.

"You poor thing," she drawled. They sat in silence for a while listening to the space slugs pace about the police box.

"So… what's your name?"

"Willa."

"Willa," he smiled a dopey smile at her, "that's pretty. You got a last name?"

"You got a first?"

"Touché, my dear."

"So why aren't they breaking down the door?" Willa watched the lock fearfully.

"They probably think this is my Tardis as well. It's a remarkable likeness. That's her name," he sighed, "my beautiful sexy time machine."

"Ok, that's weird."

"So they're afraid to touch it."

"They think we're about to make a dashing getaway," she tapped her heel against the floor.

"Yeah," the Doctor put his hands behind his head and leaned back as well as he could.

"Are we about to make a dashing getaway?"

"No."

"Oh…," Willa leaned back as well thankful for the strange flashlight that kept them from total darkness. "Is there a plan for one?"

"Not yet. It's more of an inkling than a plan at the moment. But it'll come, don't worry. Hopefully it'll come before they get too bored." The sat like that for some unmeasured time until the half-darkness and stuffy warmth lulled them both to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

When the Doctor woke, the door of the police box was standing open and some lovely sunlight was pouring in. He snatched the sonic screwdriver and hopped out the door. He found Willa standing next to one of the slugs outside. The slugman stood motionless while Willa paced around him tapping her nose in thought. She looked utterly surprised to see him, "What are you doing?"

"Oh you know," he gestured vaguely, "having a look about."

She turned back to the slugman, "Odd."

He propped an arm up on her shoulder, "So ah – what happened?"

"Hush, I'm thinking."

The Doctor took a step back, "Excuse me."

"I'm thinking-" she illustrated ridiculously with her hands, "you shut it."

"That's not how it works. You see, I'm the Doctor. You shut it while I'm thinking. I have the plans."

"You know," she shoved a finger into his chest, "you're pretty pushy for being a dream."

For about three seconds the Doctor thought that sitting down and being very quiet was a wonderful idea. He shook himself out of it though, "What?"

Willa patted his shoulder, "This is my dream. I'm not actually sure why you're here. Maybe I've got plans for you, I don't know yet. I'm trying to deal with these guys. So just be a dear and hush a bit while I think of a way to get us out of this. Now. The slugs think this box is your time machine, yeah?"

"Right. Sure. So now, you're doing all of this?"

"And they're afraid of your spaceship, yeah?"

"Right. Sure. But _you're_ doing all of this?"

"Yes, but why are they afraid of this box? You got weapon on here or something?"

He stepped in front of her to stop her pacing, "How are you doing this!"

She sighed and gently pushed him out of her way, "I'm just dreaming. Just stepping through everything so I can figure this out. I can't imagine why I wanted you to be so belligerent, but here you are. Now is there anything your little box can do that would frighten them away?"

"Ok, that's weird. You're weird. But I – well – I suppose it could self-destruct. Ah! You're brilliant!" The Doctor kisses her soundly on both cheeks and began to talk very quickly, "We can make it sounds like the Tardis is going to self-destruct. You can do a count down. It'll sound better if you do it. Computers are always girls. Start at two minutes. No, three minutes. No, two minutes. Ah! It's prefect. Now how do we get out of this… thing…," he started back for the box.

"Whenever I want." Willa pulled sharply on his jacket, slipping it off him, and spinning him around. "We've got all the time in the world in here. "She took a fistful of his shirt and pressed him up against the police box. "Now why don't you help me out here."

Before he quite knew what he was doing the Doctor was unbuttoning his shirt with one hand and taking hold of Willa's bronze curls the other. "Ah! No!" He tried to jump away from her, but only succeeded in bashing his head against the side of the police box.

"Easy there," Willa looped her fingers through his belt loops. "My you are a jumpy little figment." She kissed his neck.

"Figment?" the Doctor asked drowsily.

"Of my imagination, darling. I'd just like to have a bit of fun while I've got such excellent inspiration here."

The Doctor found himself unwillingly undoing another button. He found that if he took a deep breath and concentrated for a moment he could stop and take her firmly by the shoulders, but while he fully intended to tell her to stop this, he ended up kissing her. Though there was an infuriating lack of control over his actions – he considered – he'd been in worse situations.

Somewhere between the curve of her neck and the straps of her sundress there was a noise whose origin the Doctor couldn't make sense of. Willa faded before him, and when he opened his eyes he was back in the police box. He shook Willa roughly awake, "How dare you!"

"Hmm?" She replied sleepily.

"I am the Doctor! The Oncoming Storm! And you think you can just puppet me about? Who do you think you are?"

He glared at her for a long moment before realization began to pass slowly over her face. "Oh, goddess….," she breathed, "You were there? I mean – you remember? How were you in my dream? That doesn't make any sense."

The Doctor took a long breath and calmed down a bit, "This hasn't happened before?"

Willa curled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her skirt. "Don't talk to me. I'm dead."

He put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a hearty shake, "It's alright."

She groaned, "I said I'm dead. Leave me alone."

"No, I'm flattered. Really, I am." At that moment their was a loud bang and the walls of the police box shook. "That however is not so good. Now do you remember that brilliant plan of yours? Or were you too distracted by my dashing physique?" he straightened his bow tie.

She nodded but didn't look up, "It was really more of your plan."

"Well maybe. But buck up now. And speak with this - " he hit a few buttons on the strange flashlight and handed it her. "pressed against your throat. Start at two minutes."

Willa obeyed, though she jumped when the flashlight magnified her voice – adding to it an odd layer of computerization, "Tardis self-destruct sequence initiated. Tardis self-destruct sequence initiated. Self-destruct in two minutes. Self-destruct in two minutes."

The Doctor listened with his ear pressed against the door. When she reached the end of her countdown the Doctor leaped out the door. "Ha! They've gone! We've won!"

Willa stepped outside the blinking against the bright sunshine. "Well that was quite the afternoon."

The Doctor linked his arm through hers, "Quite. Now how would you like to see my real time machine?"

"Do I get a ride?"

"I don't see why not. As long as you can keep your hands to yourself. Where would you like to go?"

Willa considered the repercussions of following a strange man off through the streets to goodness knows where to his supposed time machine. It might not have been the best decision of her life. But then, surely the day couldn't get any stranger. "Oh I don't know. Surprise me."


	3. Chapter 3

As had become usual, it took Willa a few moments to remember where she was. The wires and conduit of the Tardis crisscrossed on the roof above her bed, and her current residence came back to her. She dressed and eventually found the Doctor who was waiting with some manner of breakfast.

He took a long drink as she sat down and sighed deeply. "You know, I've been all over this galaxy. And in all the billions of planets out there, no one makes a cup of tea quite like the British." Willa poured herself some tea and picked at the porridge like substance in front of her. She really hoped it was porridge. "Where would you like to go today?" he asked.

"Someplace calm. I'm tired to be honest."

"Ah yes. Well I am sorry. I swear there weren't giant sand scorpions all over Space Florida the last time I was there." He held her chin and studied her irises for a few seconds. "But you seem to have made a complete recovery from the poison, so all's well that ends well, as they say."

Willa refilled his cup, "Are you alright?" She brushed some hair from his face, "You're looking pale."

"No, that's just my normal state. Thanks," he laughed and batted her away. "I suppose I could you some rest too. Someplace calm," he thought for a moment, "Someplace on Earth?"

"No. You know, I think I'd like to see a nebula. They always look so lovely in pictures. Is that possible?"

"Anything's possible. But yeah, I think I can find us a nice nebula."

They finished breakfast and after the Doctor fiddled with a few of the controls, he led Willa to a room in the Tardis she'd never been in before. He flopped down on a large cushion covered divan and pulled her down next to him. A large viewing window slowly opened in front of them to reveal the sky outside swirling with colors Willa could never have imagined. There were tides of silvery blue and purple, and something that that vaguely between them – and yet again something else altogether. The Doctor watched the play of colors in the tears that streaked Willa's face. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and whipped her cheek, "Why are you crying?"

"This is – there aren't words for what this is. I've – it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

He watched her wiggle further down in the cushions like it was a nest. She was wearing another sundress today. The Tardis could have made for her any conceivable sort of outfit, but she picked a purple sundress with little silver and blue whorls across the hem. Even the Doctor could tell it was slightly less than fashionable. But the purple did look nice with her hair. She folded her knees up to her chest as she tended to do, resting her chin on knees that had never quite stopped being knobby. "I know what you mean." He let her bask in the nebula for a while longer before, "I've been doing some research."

"Hmm?" she answered without really paying attention.

"About what happened the day I met you."

"Ugh!" Willa blushed and snatched up a pillow to hide her face is so the rest of her assuredly witty response was lost.

He patted her curls, "I knew I'd encountered something like it before, but I couldn't recall where." There was more mumbling from the pillow. "Yes, I know what you're thinking. But what does this mean for you? It means, my dear, that I don't think you're entirely human. Maybe not at all." The Doctor ended dramatically nudging her with his elbow.

Willa finally looked back up to him, only to roll her eyes, "Of course I'm human. That's ridiculous."

"Tell me. When was the last time you were sick?"

"I don't know. A few months ago I guess," she shrugged.

"And did you go to a doctor or a hospital?"

"No. I have a holistic practitioner that I go to."

He leaned in towards her and rested his head in his hands, "And why is that?"

"I tend to have bad reactions to medicines. Are we done now?" She shifted uncomfortably. His steady gaze and third-degree got under her skin quicker than most people could.

"Not yet. See, maybe that's because human medicines were designed to work with human body chemistry. And you're not human."

"Lots of people prefer a holistic practitioner to normal medicine. You can't tell me that they're entire business practice is based on a thriving alien population on Earth."  
"Hey now," he shook a finger at her, "There are more of us than you think."

"Well I'm going to need more evidence than that."

"Have you ever had blood work done?"

"No."

"Ah…," the Doctor was clearly disappointed. "Well then. Tell me a little bit more about yourself. There's gotta be something in there. Some sort of dark past-ey type secret. I see here - " he waved a card just out of reach for her, "that your last name is Tolkien - "

"Oi! My license! Give it back!" Willa leapt at him, but he was too quick for her. "I was seventeen, what the hell did I know?"

The Doctor maneuvered the divan between them, but she slowly stalked him around it. "What does that mean?"

She let out a frustrated sigh, "Look, I came up through foster care, I was never adopted."

"Oh, kid…," the Doctor's steps slowed in sympathy and Willa almost caught him.

"What? It wasn't a bad thing. They were good homes and good people. But when I got to be seventeen I still didn't have a last name. The government, as it turns out, isn't terribly fond of that. So they wanted me to pick one. And _well_ when you're seventeen, Tolkien sounds like a good idea. I suppose it's not the best idea I've ever had."

The Doctor was torn between making fun of her and adding another bit of evidence to his theory. He went with the former first, "And you never changed it, why?"

"It's expensive!"

"So you've no idea who your parents are?"

"Nope," By now the Doctors musings had slowed him down considerably and Willa tackled him to the divan, snatching her license from him as they went down. "And don't look at me like that." She kept him pinned down.

"Like what?"

"Like I'm something to be pitied," she smiled at him genuinely. "I had a wonderful and strange childhood. But what about you? What's it like for a baby Timelord?"

"Ah, now there's a secret," he grabbed her shoulders and flipped her over. She giggled and he held her down for a moment by her wrists. "I could tell you - "

"But then you'd have to kill me?"

The nebula outside them still swirled, and some of the light caught in her hair. There was a buzzing in the back of his skull. You get that when you've been through 400 years of time jumping. A warning that someone's future was about to change. There was, of course, no way of knowing whose future it was. This girl below him could be his downfall, but that was doubtful. It was far more likely that he would be hers. But she was not to be pitied.

Willa was biting her bottom lip as she smiled up at him, and there was something primeval in her eyes. She was remarkably transparent – a trait he'd come to appreciate in his life. There were not doubts in how she felt. The Doctor lowered his lips almost to hers. "Know what I am. And know what you want."

"Oh I know alright." She wasn't taking this seriously. He should have known she was too young to do so, but when she kissed him gently he decided that maybe he was worrying too much. And when she hooked a leg around his and sent them tumbling across the cushions, he considered that he'd saved the universe a few times since the last time he'd had someone look at him like that. So he totally deserved this. She tore his jacket off in the tumble and straddled his hips. One by one she slowly undid the buttons of his dress shirt. He closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the attention; he rested his hands beneath the cheap purple fabric on her thighs. Willa peeled the shirt from him leaving the bowtie behind and running her nails over his bare chest.

He tugged at the corner of the tie, "Would you like this off?"

"Hmmm no I think you should leave it on," she teased.

The Doctor laughed and removed it. He took her hands and kissed each knuckle, her palms, and wrists. She fell into him and kissed down his neck. Willa traced the soft lines on his stomach first with her fingertips and then with her tongue. He moaned against her, threading his fingers through her curls. She popped open the button on his trousers, bit his hip bone somewhat less than gently and the Doctor lost his reason.

When he finally lay still and panting on top of her, Willa laughed and smoothed a shock of hair back from his face. "I guess you weren't joking about that 'Oncoming Storm' bit were you?"

"Hm?" he smiled up at her drearily and kissed her cheek.

"Nothing, love," she returned the gesture. Willa sighed deeply and had just gotten comfortable when the Doctor rolled off of her abruptly. She watched him search for his pants for a moment before she spoke, "What are you doing?"

"I've gotta check the switch on the reading and the ah…," he rambled lamely.

Willa hurled a pillow at him, striking the back of his head, "Listen, Spaceman - " the Doctor threw the pillow back at her and she caught it. "I know you've got all manner of important world saving things to do. So I won't take up much of your time. But you do have to cuddle with me."

"Do I now?" he sat again on the edge of the cushions. He studied her for a long moment; the buzzing in the back of his brain grew a little louder. But she was a tough little thing, she could probably handle it.

"Yep. It's an international law of the universe."

"Now that you mention it," he returned to her side and wrapped his arms around her, "that does sound familiar." They didn't speak much, but before they fell asleep the Doctor had memorized the freckles that sprawled across Willa's back.


	4. Chapter 4

When Willa woke she had no idea where she was. She'd never been in this part of the Tardis before, but the bed was soft and there was a blanket tucked tightly about her. The room was entirely dark but for a door at the other end of room where some light was trickling in. She rose and crept to the doorway.

The room beyond was fairly small, but the bathtub within was quite large. Sitting on the lip of it was a tray with several delicious looking pastries with a vase and a flower she'd never seen before. It hadn't occurred to her until then, but she was ravenously hungry. She was halfway through the first of the pastries before she saw that the tub was already full and teeming with bubbles. She quickly slid down into it and stretched out, fully intending to stay in until she had literally turned into a prune.

She'd nearly drifted back to sleep when there was a soft knock at the door. Willa hid behind the bubbles, "Hello?"

The Doctor pushed the door open, "Hey kid." He sat on the lip of the tub and brushed a few strands of wet hair from her face, "Did you sleep well?"

"I did. But how did I get in there?"

"I carried you," he shrugged, "You know I think you'd sleep through a black hole."

"Are they loud?"

"No, but the silence is deafening."

Willa laughed, "These are delicious." She dipped her forefinger in some of filling and held it up to him. He obligingly leaned forward, and when his tongue was on her skin she grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him in with her. Water sloshed all over the floor, and Willa was already pulling his jacket off before the bubbles had settled.

The soaked white linen peeled off of him like a second skin and the sound of it made him laugh, "Has anyone ever told you that you're dangerously impetuous?"

"Yes, actually."

"You know," he smoothed the bubbles out of her hair, "wars have been started over women like you."

"You mean impetuous loose-moraled women?"

"Quite," he managed to wiggle out of his trousers – a more difficult task than it sounds when one is in a bathtub. Willa was trying to stay balanced on top of him, but she kept slipping to the other end of the tub and the slick skin on skin was driving him mad. "You remind me a bit of Helen, you know."

"Helen? Helen of Troy?"

He started to answer but lost his train of thought half way through, "Good lord, are humans even supposed to have muscles there?"

"Not human remember?"

"Oh right," he pulled her closer to him, probably bruising her hips a little.

"You didn't answer the question, love. Was Helen of Troy an impetuous loose-moraled woman?"

She cried out softly and he held her to his chest for a moment before answering. "Helen," the Doctor gasped his face buried in her hair, "was a lady apart."

Willa moaned against his lips, "And how would you know?"

He pulled two handfuls of her hair merely to see her back arch, "It was kind of like this actually."


End file.
